PERSONAL TRAINING LONDON TEAM MORPHEUS
Michael O’Rourke, BA (Hons), Managing Director
Michael is the founder and Managing Director of Morpheus. After spending several years coaching sport and teaching at his local prep school he decided to retrain for the fitness industry. After completing his training at St Mary’s College, Twickenham and with The American College of Sports Medicine (A.C.S.M.) he started his new career at Champneys Health and Fitness Club, Piccadilly, eventually becoming Fitness Manager. It was at Champneys that he redesigned the gym and ran a successful Personal Training service which offered its clients a professional and original approach. This approach has been fine tuned and developed to create innovative, unique, and comprehensive wellness solutions.
Overseeing personal training education and development, as well heading up the Gym Project Management team, Michael ensures that each and every gym design project is delivered to the exact requirements of each and every client, whether this is small boutique sized home gym or an on-site company gym fitness facility.
MEET THE MORPHEUS PERSONAL TRAINERS:
Nat Pero BSc (Hons), Head Trainer
Nat is Head Trainer at Morpheus, and operates from private gyms and personal training studios in Marylebone, Marble Arch, Tower Bridge and is also available for home personal training sessions in Kensington, Holland Park, Knightsbridge and Notting Hill. He has worked in the Fitness industry since graduating, managing various gyms around London. While studying for his Sports Science degree at Brunel University, Nat coached football to schoolchildren in the local area which enabled him to develop his teaching and training skills. He is an intelligent and experienced London personal trainer with a wide range of skills, which he uses to good effect with clients training for sporting events. If you want to learn to box, train like a boxer, but go home unscathed, then Nat’s your man! More recently he has become a kettlebell specialist and added this training system to his repertoire.
Areas of expertise: Strength and conditioning, sport-specific training, boxing coaching.
Brian Jenkins MSc
Brian is our resident triathlete and marathon coach. As a member of the Irish triathlon team for 3 years he competed at European and World level. His passion for sport led him to complete a Masters degree in Applied Physiology, which he has used to great effect in his coaching of national competitors, as well as his personal training clients. Still an active triathlete, Brian has developed excellent coaching techniques and personal training skills necessary to prepare any client of any level for an upcoming event. His deep understanding of muscle physiology and endurance training protocols ensure he improves his clients’ fitness levels safely and quickly.
Areas of expertise: Sports specific training, Triathlon training, Endurance training.
Matthew Simmons Dip P.T.
Matthew has been actively involved in the Fitness industry since qualifying with Premier Training in 2006. Having quickly risen up the ranks to become a Fitness Manager at a central London gym, he now joins the Morpheus personal training team providing boxing focused sessions due to his amateur boxing credentials. A park and home training specialist, he is able to devise fun and productive sessions with minimal equipment, a testament to his ingenuity and quick-thinking approach.
Areas of expertise: Boxing, strength and conditioning, park training
Iain Grey Dip P.T./ Sports Massage
Iain has recently moved to London from Oxford where he worked for Vodafone providing personal training programmes to the company’s workforce. An able sportsman, having played and coached football at Oxford United F.C. Iain enjoys developing programmes around bodyweight exercises, encouraging his clients to adopt short, productive fitness routines into their everyday lives. Equally at home in the park as in the gym, Iain is a dynamic trainer with a wide range of skills.
Areas of expertise: Boxing, circuit training, strength and conditioning
Brian Conway, Personal Trainer
A native of the Emerald Isle, Brian brings a wealth of experience to Morpheus due to his active involvement in Gaelic sports, having played and coached at senior levels in Hurling and Gaelic Football. A veritable man mountain, he coaches his clients to achieve their potential through intelligently planned personal training sessions that utilise a wide variety of training approaches, including boxing, strength training and functional movement work.
He aims to guide his clients into adopting a healthy lifestyle that will enhance all aspects of their lives and to find the right combination to ensure the changes are permanent and sustainable. With a good understanding of kinesiology Brian is able to identify muscle imbalances that can lead to injury and devises appropriate remedial programmes to help his clients achieve optimum function.
Areas of expertise: Strength and Conditioning, Boxing, Corrective Exercise.
Janine Guildford, Personal Trainer
Janine has a background in dance and since qualifying as a personal trainer she steadily acquired a broad range of skills that she uses in her personal training sessions.
Her main expertise lies within the area of pre and post natal fitness, assisting new mothers regain their fitness and shape, as well as coaching them through the early stages of pregnancy. Through careful assessments she devises programmes that enable busy mothers to train productively without reducing energy levels, and assists them in losing their baby weight.
Areas of expertise: Pre and Post natal exercise
Linda Hedenstrom, Personal Trainer
Linda had a good tutor in her father who was a professional body builder, which not only taught her the benefits of strength training, but also the importance of diet in maintaining a healthy, functional physique. This background inspired her to compete herself in fitness competitions in Sweden and this inevitably has led to her pursuing a career in fitness. Her personal training skills and weight training knowledge combined with her deep understanding of the role that nutrition plays in health and wellbeing ensures her clients achieve their goals quickly. Linda is based at the Waterloo and Marylebone personal training gyms.
Areas of expertise: Strength Training, Outdoor Training, Nutrition
Chris Ryan, BSc (Hons), Personal Trainer and Tennis Coach
Chris is the latest recruit to the Morpheus personal training team. After completing his Sports and Business Management degree at Southampton University Chris continued on his sporting path by qualifying as a personal trainer through the European Institute of Fitness. A qualified tennis coach, he continues to teach national players in South London and the Purley club, as well taking care of their strength and conditioning, speed and agility work.
An accomplished tennis player himself, Chris is based at the personal training gym in Waterloo. He has a strong grasp of the demands sport places on the body, and therefore uses this knowledge to design personal training programmes that enhance and ready the body for any sport. Chris carries out his personal training sessions with clients at our gyms in Waterloo and Tower Hill.
Areas of expertise: Sports specific training, weight-loss
Doug Tannahill, BSc (Hons), CHEK Exercise Coach, CPT
Doug brings immense dedication and scientific knowledge to the Morpheus personal training team, having embarked on a career in fitness since graduating in Sports Science 2004. Based at our gym in Waterloo, he is originally from Hereford, where he established a great reputation as a first-class personal trainer and lifestyle coach. He is currently completing a Masters in Osteopathy, and as such is able to offer his clients an extra dimension to their exercise programme and wellbeing needs. In his spare time he likes to scuba dive in exotic far away places, and ski down high mountains!
Areas of expertise: Corrective exercise, sports specific training, cardiovascular conditioning.
Aisha Jones, Personal Trainer
Aisha qualified as a Personal Trainer in 2008 at the New Zealand Institute of Sport. Since that time she has worked in several different health and fitness settings, predominantly in the corporate fitness sector where she personal trained people of all ages and abilities. Since her move to London she has gained further experience by managing the Schroders Health and Fitness Centre. Here she developed her personal training skills by coaching clients to cope with stress and devising personal training programmes that tackled areas such as weight management, hypertension and overall fitness and wellbeing.
Areas of expertise: Weight loss, General Fitness
Rachel Russell, Personal Trainer
Rachel is the latest recruit to the personal training team. Her focus is on working with clients preparing for pregnancy or devising programmes for mothers who wish to resume or restart an exercise routine. However, she is also a passionate weightlifting coach who can clean and jerk with the best of them. She strives in each session to motivate and encourage her clients to reach their potential. Based at the Waterloo gym Rachel carries out personal training sessions for a diverse range of clients and her thorough, dedicated approach ensures she delivers results to her clients.
Areas of expertise: Pre and post natal exercise, weightlifting, strength training.
Dan Franklin, Physiotherapy Director
Dan graduated from Sydney University, Australia in 1997. After an initial period in a large Australian teaching hospital, Dan has worked in private practice in both Australia and the UK.
Dan’s principal specialty is the care of mainly City-based patients suffering back/neck pains typically originating from being desk-bound all day. Dan’s additional specialty is the treatment and rehabilitation of sports injuries. His extensive understanding of many sports, combined with his high standard of clinical skills, has resulted in him being extremely popular with many athletes in the City.
Email: Dan.franklin@backinactionuk.com
Colette Hicks, Personal Trainer and Pilates Teacher
Colette is a qualified Pilates teacher and Personal Trainer and has worked extensively in and around London since qualifying with the Pilates Institute. Due to her dance background, Colette offers a unique combination of techniques in her training and Pilates instruction. Her key strengths are in postural correction, correcting muscle imbalances and pre and post natal exercise.
Areas of expertise: Corrective exercise, pre and post natal exercise